6 Oct 1938
Dorothy Griffin to Maude / Washington D.C.
"Gather up the bibs and rattles. Throw the teething rings away. Here's a baby all grown up who's one year old today!" I had the oddest sensation when first I read that in one of Robert's birthday cards. If only I could hold the clock still for a few years. Just now he's at the most adorable age of all, and so loveable. All of our rigid theories on discipline are melting away and we're probably spoiling him rotten. But we see so little of him, it seems and it's impossible to punish the little rascal when he turns to us with such confidence. Nevertheless I still think he's one of the best behaved babies I've ever seen.
We've been particularly interested in his persistent inquiry of anything with wheels. Other children his age have a very fleeting interest in the mechanics of toys but he will interest himself for a quarter of an hour inspecting the wheels of his stroller or of a real auto of Marge's that Elsie will remember. I got him a Holgate color cone for his birthday and he is entranced with all the circles.
We had a very happy birthday altogether. I took leave from work to be with him and for his treat took him for a ride in the car. How he loves it. Whether it is going or standing still it is his favorite habitat. We had no party. I've been to too many year-old birthday parties and seen the poor little honored one spend the whole afternoon crying and upset and I wanted it to be an especially happy day for us. The cake in the pictures John sent was perfectly beautiful and beautifully trimmed in pink and green. But here again there was no treat for the little one. I have a very drastic pediatrician and he has me scared of breaking routines. So Robert's excitement ended with a close-up of his cake, and he did bury his fist into it and tried to grab the lighted candle. But it was a grand day for us and a happy one for him as well as for us.
Ah yes, the awful truth. Just after we took the pictures I sat smack on the cake and the room was a trail of frosting, not to mention my skirt.
Did John thank you for the adorable suit. Right now it is too large for him but by spring I believe it will be just right. You were right. John is tickled to pieces over its masculine appeal and so am I for that matter.
Other gifts were an exquisite yellow sweater with white angora, a raspberry red fall suit with leggings, mittens, cap and sweater, some new shoes, a little kitten on wheels from his daddy, two little knit suits, one rose, one about he color of this ink (he's wearing the rose one by the cake) and his color cone.
We had him inoculated for whooping cough, and it was a somewhat painful process. I am not entirely converted to the need of these preventions, but since I have a good deal of faith in his doctor I leave those decisions up to him. Also a number of my friends here have had occasion to regret not taking precautions and try to convince me that he needs them. I should like to have Leslie Smith's opinion and hope when I am home next summer to have a long consultation with him, not as a relative but as a patient.
I have been working quite hard completing a program of study for a club I belong to here and have left the correspondence to John this late summer. The program is now at the printers and when it is finished I'll send you a copy if you would like to give you an idea of the type of club it is. All in all it has been a little more than I bargained for, and as a result I seem to have little resistance to colds. Dr. O'Donnell has given me a tonic [of] concentrated vitimins, liver, iron, and most everything, and I hope to regain my fleeting youth any day now.
John is happy in his Mutual work. As many come as come to Sunday evening meetings and we had a perfectly swell opening party with a nickelodeon to dance to, and all did the Lambert Walk. Everyone said it was the best party we've had for years. He also won his appeal for a new plan for two evenings a month so that they can have some instructive talks and varied subjects from some of the various departments. It's such a golden opportunity and I believe a big step forward in Mutual work that would be well followed at home.
We had an interesting letter from Don yesterday. His descriptions of England remind me of those of Margaret Halsey in "With Malice Toward Some." For myself, I believe I would see enough of England in a month to last me a lifetime. Here it seems so damp to me that their references to the soggy winters in England prompts me to hunt up the red flannels and read circulars on Florida.
I saw Ruth and Roy in the evening before they went to Connecticut. Richard had taken on a couple of inches and seemed much older. Sheldon was with them. How much he looks like Clifford. I couldn't get over that resemblance. Sheldon is going to school here this winter.
John was made one of the officers of his company in the Army. That is, they're all officers, but he is one of the four in charge. I asked him what it meant and it seems that he just yells the commands and the rest do the drilling. He has so many meetings now with Army and club and Church. It seems he's away every night, but he's always happiest when he's busy and if he's not busy with something he has so many suggestions at home that it keeps me on the run, and this winter I feel that I would make a good running mate to a snail.
Tonight he came home with the grandest surprise - tickets to the national next week, to see a new musical comedy. We'll probably have to sell pencils evenings to pay for them, but it only goes to show that he's a very thoughtful guy.
Love to all, Dorothy.
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